Director of Eco Technology, Ashot Baghdasaryan, has revealed a new
fertilizer which is capable of holding water.

"The fertilizer granules take water from the soil (either from rain
or irrigation) and return them to the plant, when and as needed."

The fertilizer, he added, not only saves water, but also preserves
nutrients in the soil.

"Typically, a plant does not always have time to fully absorb what is
then lost to the ground water. Nutrients can sink into deep waters,
and the earth becomes poorer for it. Our fertilizer granules accumulate
not only water but also those nutrients," said Baghdasaryan.

According to the company, the fertilizer not only softens the
consequences of unfavourable climatic conditions, be it drought or
excessive damp, but also creates normal conditions for plant growth
by absorbing and giving up to 90% of the accumulated moisture to the
plant regardless of soil quality or type.

In general, the new fertilizer is claimed to help increase the yield
of a crop by 40 - 60%. In addition, the material is biodegradable,
meaning that ground waste does not remain.

The fertilizer, named 'Aquasource,' has already passed a series
of tests by volunteer farmers. In addition, the fertilizer is being
tested in a number of international programs - one of the World Bank's
projects, WWF's tree planting project in the Trchkan gorge, Armenia,
and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
which involves the planting of an orchard on the banks of Lake Sevan.

The new product has already captured interest overseas - in Iran,
Russia, the USA, India, the UAE, South Africa and Namibia.

"We want to deliver commercially, but need to produce more,"
Baghdasaryan said. "At present we are turning out 1.5 tons per month;
we aim to bring that up to 15 - 20 tons with the funds awarded us
by the grant program 'Matching Grants' of the Enterprise Incubator
Foundation (EIF), to the amount of USD 50 thousand (the same amount in
terms of investment that it took to build the company itself). 1 kg of
fertilizer can benefit 330 plants, or, on average, 90 kg is required
per 1 ha. of land. Of course, not all of our farmers believe in it
yet, thinking it an unnecessary expense, but when you sit down and
calculate just how much it can increase productivity, it's easy to see
the benefits will soon outweigh the costs of the fertilizer," he added.